Engineer comes back to develop his village in MP’s Dindori

Shruti Tomar, Bhopal: Lack of development in his village motivated this tribal youth in MP to become the first

engineer from his area. However, even after securing a well-paying job, he chose to develop his village by educating the children of the community and making the elders aware. Twenty one-year-old Mastram Hathesh, from Jimra village of Dindori, graduated from MANIT with a gold medal this year and secured a job as an engineer at Bharat Oman Refineries Limited (BORL) in Bina. Material science and metallurgical engineer Mastram decided to do something for his village when he realised that no-one from his community could make it to his convocation ceremony to celebrate his success — reason being lack of development and exposure. “Despite getting support and blessings from every villager, I was alone here because my community and family members feel shy to come out of the village and meet people. Development has not even touched the village,” Mastram said. “I feel that the benefits of reservation are being exploited more by the affluent class than people from underprivileged families living in rural areas. In my village, people still have to struggle for basic needs. Electricity supply is almost zero,” he added. Even though many people from Jimra have been able to get education and jobs due to reservation for scheduled tribes but their status has not brought about any change in the life of the community. “When I was studying in MANIT, people expected that I would not come back to the village like others who left the village after getting jobs through quota,” Mastram said. “But I returned and have decided to bring more students outside so that they can achieve success.” Apart from teaching the children and spending a part of his salary in distributing books to the students of his village, Mastram also makes the villagers aware about different schemes for tribals so that they can avail the benefits. “From now on, nobody from my village will stand alone because I will be there to celebrate their success,” he said.